Career Readiness of Graduating Office Technology and Management Students in Polytechnics in Southeast Nigeria

Abstract

Career readiness of graduating Office Technology and Management (OTM) students of polytechnics in three states of South-East Nigeria was assessed. Career readiness was determined based on the extent to which the students possessed the attitudes and skills required for advancing on the OTM career path. The skills were aggregated into six clusters: office, managerial, entrepreneurial, ICT (information and communication technology), communication, and socio-psychological skills. Two research questions guided the study, namely (i) the extent to which the graduating OTM students possessed the requisite skills, and (ii) the career readiness index of the students. A total of 179 HND (Higher National Diploma) II students of OTM at the time of the study constituted the study population. A questionnaire, structured on a five-point scale in line with the indicators for career readiness was used to collect data from the participants. The instrument was face validated and trial tested prior to the study, yielding a 95-reliability coefficient. Mean and standard deviations were used to answer research question one, while research question two was answered using the career readiness index formula. Findings of the study showed an average career readiness index of 3.06 for the graduating OTM students in the polytechnics studied. The indicators showed that the students were lacking in office, managerial, entrepreneurial and communication skills, but rated very high in ICT and socio-psychological skills. The study concludes that there is a need for improvement and recommends, among others, that the institutions should strengthen their partnership with industry for work-based training of students to support improved effectiveness of the OTM programme. https://doi.org/10.26803/ijlter.20.2.16